Here, you are urged and encouraged to run your mouths about something important.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

ATF Shuffling the Deck in Preparation for Hearings?

If actions do speak louder than words, the ATF is screaming from the rooftops. There are major shakeups taking place within the agency as Eric Holder and the Justice Department continue to stonewall over serious and legitimate questions about the agency's handling of Project Gunrunner's Fast and Furious operation. An insider also calls the lengths to which the agency is going with respect to the staff changes as 'unprecedented.' This could be a very clear sign that the ATF is shuffling the deck in preparation for hearings in front of Darrell Issa's Oversight committee.

CBS News has learned that virtually all the top ATF managers in Phoenix involved in the controversial "Fast and Furious" operation have been reassigned and replaced. The shake-up comes in the wake of the gunwalking scandal in which ATF allegedly allowed more than 2500 weapons to hit the streets or "walk."

Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Bill Newell has been replaced by the former Detroit SAC Tom Brandon. Newell was reassigned to ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. shortly after CBS News interviewed an ATF agent-turned-whistleblower about the alleged gunwalking.

Two new Assistant Special Agents in Charge (ASACs) have also moved into the ATF Phoenix office: Joe Anarumo of Miami and Tom Atteberry of Kansas City. Sources say they replace the ASACs who oversaw Fast and Furious in Phoenix: George Gillett, who's being reassigned to Washington D.C. headquarters; and Jim Needles, who's been tasked to the Phoenix U.S. Attorney's office.

"This is unprecedented and welcome," says one insider, who describes the new Phoenix management as "the A-Team" and "respected."

This is what happens when you turn the light on in a room full of cockroaches.

Sipsey Street has also posted an internal ATF memo that tells employees what to produce in response to the subpoena Darrell Issa issued several weeks ago. It looks like May 27th is the deadline the agency is imposing on getting all of the documents ready for Issa's committee.